Getting Started with Behave: Writing Cucumber Tests in VS Code

What is Behave?

Behave is a BDD test framework for Python that allows you to write tests in plain English using Given–When–Then syntax, backed by Python step definitions. 

Key benefits:

• Human‑readable test scenarios using Gherkin
• Strong alignment between business requirements and test automation
• Easy integration with CI/CD pipelines
• Lightweight and IDE‑friendly

Prerequisites

Before getting started, ensure you have the following installed:

• Python 3.10+
• Visual Studio Code
• Basic understanding of Python
• Familiarity with BDD concepts (Given / When / Then)

Steps

Download the sample demo zip from github download

Step 1: Create a Virtual Environment and activate it.

python -m venv venv
.venv\Scripts\activate

Install Dependencies

pip install behave requests

Step 2: Install VS Code Extensions

To get a first‑class experience in VS Code, install the following extensions:

1. Python (Microsoft)
2. Gherkin (for .feature syntax highlighting)
3. Behave VSC (optional but recommended)

The Behave VSC extension enables:

• Running tests directly from VS Code
• Step definition navigation
• Gherkin auto‑completion
• Test explorer integration

Folder Structure

Why This Structure?

• features/ – contains all Gherkin feature files
• steps/ – contains Python step implementations
• environment.py – optional hooks for setup/teardown
• config/configuration.py - for lifecycle hooks
• behave.ini – configuration file for Behave

Step 3: Write Your First Feature File

Feature: Login functionality

  Login
  Scenario: Successful login
    Given the application is running
    When the user enters valid credentials
    Then the user should see the dashboard

Step 4: Writing Step Definitions

from behave import given, when, then

@given('the user is on the login page')
def step_user_on_login_page(context):
    print("User navigates to login page")

@when('the user enters valid credentials')
def step_user_enters_credentials(context):
    print("User enters username and password")

@then('the user should be redirected to the dashboard')
def step_user_redirected(context):
    print("User is redirected to dashboard")

Step 5: Adding Test Configuration (configuration.py)

Create config/configuration.py to centralize environment-specific settings. This helps avoid hardcoding values across test files.

class TestConfig:
    BASE_URL = "https://example.com"
    TIMEOUT = 30
    BROWSER = "chrome"

Step 6: Using Fixtures with environment.py

The environment.py file is Behave’s hook mechanism. It runs before and after tests, similar to fixtures in pytest.

Create features/environment.py:

from config.configuration import TestConfig

def before_all(context):
    print("Setting up test environment")
    context.config_data = TestConfig()

def before_scenario(context, scenario):
    print(f"Starting scenario: {scenario.name}")

def after_scenario(context, scenario):
    print(f"Finished scenario: {scenario.name}")

def after_all(context):
    print("Tearing down test environment")

Common Use Cases

• Initialize browsers or API clients
• Load environment variables
• Clean up test data
• Open/close DB connections

Step 7: Optional Behave Configuration File

Create behave.ini for execution settings. This helps during debugging by showing logs directly in the console.

[behave]
stdout_capture = false
stderr_capture = false
log_capture = false

Step 8: Running Tests

From the project root, run:

behave

To run a specific feature:

behave features/login.feature

Run by tag

behave -t Login 

Best Practices

✔ Keep feature files business-readable
✔ Avoid logic in feature files
✔ Reuse steps wherever possible
✔ Centralize configs and fixtures
✔ Use tags for selective execution